Real Estate Daily News Buzz March 28, 2016
Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.
U.S. financial markets were closed for Good Friday.
The Town of Oro Valley Planning & Zoning Commission will meet April 5, 2016 at 6:00 PM. On the agenda is discussion and possible action regarding a request to initiate a zoning code amendment relative to home occupations. The Community Academy presentation on residential markets and growth forecast in the region and Oro Valley and consumer preferences from industry professionals will follow.
The Rio Nuevo Board meeting will be held Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. at Arizona State Building 400 W Congress, Suite 222, Tucson, AZ. The Board will continue discussions on the Greyhound terminal relocation and obtain legal advice on the Gadsden Mercado annex proposal. The underpayment of downtown taxes on the TCC complex, owned by the Duistrcit and leased to the City.
Looking to Real Estate as a Hedge? Check Out These 5 U.S. Cities “With everything that has happened in China and the lingering impact of fluctuating oil prices, investors may look to real estate to hedge their bets against uncertainty — and for good reason, as few investment vehicles can compete with real estate amid volatility. As a result, real estate and real estate investment trusts should become see an influx of investor capital. Certain cities, however, have positioned themselves better than others to take full advantage of the extra investor attention.” (The Street)
Chinese investment in Boston commercial real estate expected to continue “China’s volatile stock market has only increased the desire for foreign capital inflow from China to U.S. Chinese foreign investment in U.S. commercial real estate has increased steadily from $3 billion in 2013 to $6.6 billion in 2014 to $8.6 billion in 2015. Chinese investment in commercial real estate developments has also increased, and is second only to Canada in this field. The Boston area has benefited from this increase, with notable developments such as the $300 million joint venture between Samuels & Associates and Landsea for Pierce Boston in the Fenway neighborhood. With this continued trend, Boston should continue to see the influx of Chinese capital in its commercial real estate.” (New England Real Estate Journal)
Tech Slowdown Seen in San Francisco’s Commercial-Property Market “San Francisco’s commercial real estate market may be foretelling a slowdown in the city’s heated technology-driven economy. Office subleasing, an early indicator of past downturns, is at the highest level since 2010. The amount of available space from subleases in the city jumped to 1.9 million square feet (176,500 square meters) last month, a 46 percent increase from the end of the third quarter, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Twitter Inc., Intuit Inc., and Zenefits are among tech companies putting excess space on the market.” (Bloomberg Business)
Discount grocery chain Aldi opens first eight Southern California stores “The German discount grocer opened eight Southland stores Thursday, the first of 45 locations set to open in the region this year. The initial wave is clustered around Aldi’s regional distribution center in Moreno Valley. In coming to Southern California, Aldi is venturing into one of the most ferociously competitive grocery markets in the country. Gelson’s, Bristol Farms and Trader Joe’s are local favorites. Dozens of farmers markets dot the region. Retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. have bulked up their grocery options, while huge online players Google and Amazon.com are expanding grocery delivery.” (Los Angeles Times)
More Americans Are Again Moving to Suburbs Than Cities “Economists to real-estate agents have debated whether the housing boom and bust of the last decade has dramatically remade the way Americans live or merely created a temporary disruption. U.S. Census data released Thursday provides strong support for the latter thesis—that shifts in where Americans move were merely temporary, according to analysis by Jed Kolko, a senior fellow at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. For one thing, the rate at which Americans are moving to the suburbs is once again outpacing the rate at which they are moving to cities. That picks up on a decades-long trend that only very temporarily reversed during the recession.” (The Wall Street Journal)
No prison, please: Skelos lawyer requests probation, community service “Convicted criminal Dean Skelos is hoping for a reprieve for past good behavior. Skelos was found guilty on eight corruption counts in December for pressuring supporters — including developer Glenwood Management — to hand his son Adam no-show jobs. The former State Senate majority leader’s legal team asked a judge to spare Skelos a prison term and instead sentence him to probation and 4,160 hours of community service.” (The Real Deal)
Lincoln Property Teams Up with Rockwood to Take Back 915 Wilshire “Lincoln Property Co. and affiliates of Rockwood Capital LLC, have acquired 915 Wilshire, a 22-story office building in downtown Los Angeles and plan to give the Class A tower a makeover to expand its appeal to creative tenants. Lincoln is very familiar with the granite and glass tower–the Dallas-based firm owned it before selling the asset in 2007 to Brickman Associates, which kept Lincoln on as property manager and leasing agent….The 390,312-square-foot building was erected in 1980 and last renovated by Lincoln more than a decade ago. It sits within walking distance of public transportation and will also be near the planned Los Angeles Streetcar expected to run from LA Live to the Civic Center. The building is also close to the 110 Freeway.” (Commercial Property Executive)
Portland-Area Apartments Command Record Price “A private investor has acquired the Barclay Square Apartments, a 70-unit apartment property in Woodburn, Ore., for $6.27 million, from an investor with holdings in Oregon and Washington. At $89,571 per unit, the transaction represents the highest apartment price ever recorded in the city of Woodburn….‘The record price achieved here in Woodburn is a reflection of prices currently being achieved throughout Oregon’s secondary and tertiary markets,’ Georgie Christensen, a multifamily specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Portland Office, said.” (Multi-Housing News)
Restaurants tops retail performance report in Florida “While most industries posted increases, department stores, electronic stores and convenience stores saw revenues decline. Convenience stores posted an about 12.7 percent decrease in year-over-year revenue. Restaurants posted four of the top five largest revenue increases in the state with all posting increases in the 8 to 12 percent range. Entertainment and dining had an increase of 12.2 percent, quick service had an increase of 12.1 percent, fast casual had an increase of 12 percent, fine dining had an increase of 8.5 percent.” (Jacksonville Business Journal)
This L.A. artist is taking a stand against small-lot development, one bunch of balloons at a time “Los Angeles is debating the merits of adding denser housing developments across the city, with high-rise and medium-rise residential towers going up at a rapid pace in neighborhoods such as Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles and Koreatown. Backers say the greater density is necessary as Los Angeles faces a housing shortage. Critics argue the projects are changing the character of their neighborhoods, worsening traffic and reducing the amount of affordable housing. L.A. voters might decide the issue next year with plans for a ballot measure that would place limits on larger developments. But even the small-lot tear-down is generating some controversy. Small-lot developments are a hybrid of condominiums and single-family homes. A 2005 city law allows multiple detached homes to be built on a single lot in communities zoned for multi-family and commercial uses. In many neighborhoods, developers are tearing down older, single-family homes to make way for the skinny properties.” (Los Angeles Times)
Household spending and home building fuel modest US growth — Consumer spending and home construction are helping sustain modest U.S. economic growth despite problems caused by a strong dollar, low oil prices and an excess of business stockpiles. The economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a 1.4% annual rate in the October-December period, the government said Friday. That was better than the 1% growth rate the government had estimated a month ago. Much of the new-found strength came from consumer spending on services such as recreation, which helped offset a manufacturing slump caused in part by a global economic slowdown.
Jury: Gilead owes Merck $200M in damages over drug patents –The federal jury in a patent trial has ordered drugmaker Gilead Sciences to pay Merck $200 million in damages for infringing on patents for hepatitis C drugs. The award is far below the damages Merck sought, but the trial moves to a new phase Wednesday. The jury, in San Jose, California, then will decide whether Merck & Co. is due royalties on sales of Gilead’s hepatitis C drugs, Harvoni and Sovaldi. Merck, which recently launched a hepatitis C drug called Zepatier, claims two patents that Merck and partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals filed in 2002 were the basis for Gilead’s sofosbuvir.
Court nixes class action suit over TGI Friday’s drink prices — A lawsuit that began over a $1.59 discrepancy for a drink at TGI Friday’s cannot proceed as a class action, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. The court’s ruling published Thursday is the latest development in a six-year saga that began when a southern New Jersey woman sued the chain after she realized she had been charged $2.00 for a drink at the bar and, later, $3.59 for a similar drink while sitting at a table. Debra Dugan claimed the price difference and the fact the restaurants don’t print drink prices on their menus amounted to violations of state consumer protection laws. She claimed the practice amounted to “menu engineering” and sought to exploit customers. Two other plaintiffs eventually joined the lawsuit.
Feds offer debt relief to more former Corinthian students — The U.S. Department of Education is offering debt forgiveness to another wave of students who attended Corinthian Colleges, the now-defunct chain of for-profit schools that had campuses across the country. After agreeing to erase the debt of more than 7,000 students in December, the department announced on Friday that students from 91 additional campuses in 20 states can now apply for debt relief. Students who attended those schools, which operated as Everest or WyoTech, can apply for relief on the department’s website.
For first time, drone delivers package to residential area — A drone has successfully delivered a package to a residential location in a small Nevada town in what its maker and the governor of the state said Friday was the first fully autonomous urban drone delivery in the U.S. Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney said the six-rotor drone flew about a half-mile along a pre-programmed delivery route on March 10 and lowered the package outside a vacant residence in an uninhabited area of Hawthorne, southeast of Reno. He said the package included bottled water, food and a first-aid kit.
Federal oil, gas leases stall over bird concerns in US West — Concerns over a bird that ranges across the American West continue to delay federal oil and gas lease sales, five months after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell proclaimed the Obama administration had found a way to balance drilling and conservation. The Interior Department announced this week it will defer the sale of almost 60,000 acres of leases that were nominated by companies in eastern Montana as it works on new policies for greater sage grouse. More than 8 million acres of leases previously were deferred in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. It remains unclear when those will be freed up for sales or removed from consideration.
